A vmail of Importance
by chrisfardell
Summary: An officer on the Enterprise F receives a message from an old friend.


**A V-Mail of Importance (A Star Trek: A New Century short story and Star Trek: Anthology fiction) (A TrekBBS May '08 Challenge fiction)**

**16 May 2408**

_**USS Enterprise NCC 1701 F – **_**on patrol at the edge of Federation Space**

"So the Captain is coming to the game?" asked Yolanda Hernandez, Lieutenant J.G. and Operations Manager of the _Enterprise_, said as she and Chief Conn Officer Lieutenant Samuel Lewis walked along a corridor on deck 7

.

"He is, that is if the border remains quiet" Samuel said. They then stopped in front of the main door to Samuel's quarters.

"That is excellent, he needs to be more involved in crew activities, in my opinion, anyway, can I come in and talk about things further?" Yolanda asked, showing a slight nervousness at the end of the sentence, tucking some stray hairs behind her ear.

"Any other time, yes, you can, however I received a message from an old school friend this morning, just before I went on shift, and I would like to view it alone, that is if you don't mind" Samuel said, whist figiting, normally he would be happy to have Yolanda in his quarters for a chat, as the friends they were, but he really wanted to watch the v-mail he had received by himself.

"That is ok, I'll see you at the holodeck?" Yolanda asked.

"Absolutely, see you there, see ya" Samuel said, he turned to the quarters door which then opened. Yolanda then continued towards her own quarters, further down the hall.

Samuel sat down at his personal console, and relaxed.

"Computer, play message 'New Victoria' from Karen Allenby" he said.

"_Affirmative_" the computer said.

The video started playing, Samuel could see Karen sitting in her new house in the University Quarter of New Melbourne, the capital of New Victoria.

"_Hi Samuel, thankyou for your message in reply to my earlier v-mail about my move to New Victoria, it has given me great encouragement in this new environment I find myself in. I certainly needed it._

_How goes you? I know that the _Enterprise_ would remain on the border for the forseeable future, a not exactly exciting time, I know you joined Starfleet to explore. Anyhow I digress, how are your friends, I remember that you spoke of Lieutenant Hernandez and the hijincks you get up to with her." _

Samuel started at that, not exactly _hijinks_ per-se, but certainly acting like university students, not exactly the way protocol stated that Starfleet officers were meant to behave (the captain tolerated this, because he and Hernandez were good officers, and had acted that way himself when he was a junior officer). He looked back at the screen, Karen had paused, she was sitting down on her lounge, with a picture of common Kamilaroi bird species on one side and a window showing a view of a suburb of New Melbourne.

"_Anyway I digress even further, you asked about my decision to move to New Victoria, about whether it was entirely the opportunity to study animals that are part of a biosphere that has barely been studied, about whether I felt that I needed to leave New Australia, as a result of many things that have happened over the last year._

_I answer that yes, it was not just the opportunity of a lifetime, to take the position at the University __of New Victoria, although that was certainly a great impetus, although I had told my supervisor at UNA that I would get back to him within 3 days, I replied to him at the end of the next day. After I got home that afternoon I thought about what I had undergone, not just getting stuck in a Mohrpsug for most of a night, or meeting some of my alternate selves or being stuck in the past for a few days, in the past few years._

_I had never been away from New Australia, in real world, I felt confined on New Australia, that I had not experienced things for the way they really are, and though New Australia is diverse, it is not very cosmopolitan by the average standards of the Federation. As soon as I arrived in New Melbourne I could see people of many more different species and ways of life than I _ever_ had anywhere on New Australia, or in my experiences in the virtu-verses._

_I knew as soon as I had arrived that I had made the right decision. As for why you had not heard me say anything about this before, I guess that I had buried this feeling of being confined deep within my mind, and when I was made aware of the vacant zoologist position here, I became aware of it, and I knew that I had to take it._

_It was hard saying goodbye to my family and friends of course, and I had very long farewells with my family members in particular, and I am certain that I will miss being on New Australia, it was my home, most definitely, I just knew that this was a good idea. Of course I was nervous when I arrived, as I told you in my previous communication, and it took me a while to settle in, I am still settling in._

_Anyway I had best finish up now, you know how I ramble on when I am on a roll, and I _feel _like I am on a roll, I could possibly go on for hours. I hope to hear from you soon Samuel."_

Samuel could then see Karen stiffening up her posture.

"_From your good friend Kazza Allenby, see-ya"_

The message then ended fading out to a heraldic symbol that Karen had designed for herself, when then faded to the symbol of the University of New Victoria.

Samuel thought, Karen certainly had given him a lot to think about, she had never talked about being confined on New Australia before, but then again she did say that she must have had held that in. He deactivated the console, and went over to look at the starfeild outside his quarters window.

It was still over an hour before the soccer game started on the holodeck. '_I will get ready soon'_ he thought, but first he would think about the possible changes in his friend, with whom he had gotten close to in high school, and possibly in himself.


End file.
